A New Gadget Frees Spotify From Your Smartphone

A new Kickstarter project hopes to revolutionize how you listen to Spotify when you exercise -- but there's a less obvious way it could help couch potatoes, too.

It's called the Mighty, and it'll probably remind you a bit of the iPod Shuffle. Assuming the Kickstarter is funded -- it's a bit over 75 percent of the way to its $250,000 goal --the device lets you play music from your Spotify account, but lets you take a break from your smartphone.

You'll be able to transfer Spotify playlists over to the Mighty's 4 GB flash drive and control that music via the device's buttons -- no touchscreen here.

The gadget, which will cost $79 and work only with premium Spotify accounts, fits easily into the palm of your hand and can clip onto your clothing.

It's clearly marketed to outdoorsy types who may not be able to fumble with their phone while careening downhill on their mountain bikes. But Anthony Pu, Mighty's head of operations, hinted at another purpose during a recent chat with The Huffington Post: The device can help you focus entirely on music without worrying about distractions.

The Mighty is just there for music. It's separate from your smartphone, so it won't bother you with annoying app notifications. Is there anything worse than getting really, really into an album, only to be interrupted by a phone call or text message? Not really.

Pu told HuffPost that the Mighty should appeal to "people who just want to unplug from their devices."

Smartphones have moved us away from needing dedicated gadgets for different functions -- we can game on our phones, listen to whatever we want and read books on them -- but that doesn't mean they're always the perfect solution.

After all, some activities are best experienced in a vacuum. You probably lose some zen if your mom calls you in the middle of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Put the smartphone aside and focus on the music.

Mighty also helps on that point because it has its own internal storage. You can export Spotify's highest quality music to it without worrying about taking up space on your smartphone.

It's not exactly a budget option at $79, especially since it's just offering an alternative way to listen to music that you already have access to, but it might just be what you're looking for if you're a gym junkie or audiophile.